Building collapse incidents in Delhi claimed 14 lives

NEW DELHI: The capital witnessed 66 cases of roof or building collapse in the past five months which left 14 people dead and 110 others injured.

Most of the cases were reported during the rainy season, which also exposed poor construction and illegal buildings made in the city.

"Cases of roof and building collapse were very high in the month of July and August during the rain. Almost every day there were instances of building tilt or collapse in rainy season. Due to continuous rain, poor construction quality gets exposed leading to further damage.

"Most of the buildings or roofs which collapsed were in unauthorised areas. We have also found that some newly constructed building got tilted as the foundation got weak," District Magistrate (Disaster Management), Kunal said.

Maximum of five people died and nine got injured when a four-storey building collapse in a narrow lane in Vishnu Garden area of West Delhi on July 18. The building caved in as digging was going on at an adjacent plot for construction of a new structure.

Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) rescued over a dozen people trapped in the incident.

In order to improve its response time, DDMA is also developing community disaster management centers with the help of civil defense.

"As most of the dangerous buildings are in densely populated area and in narrow lanes so we face problem in prompt action and approaching the site. So we are making community disaster management centers where trained civil defense volunteers will be the first to respond in case of any emergency," Kunal said.

These centers will be made in 33 sub-divisions in 11 districts of Delhi.

"In most of the case we have found that builder gives a cosmetic finish to a building but its construction remains weak. All unauthorised constructions ignore safety guidelines as they are constructed at great speed to avoid government's attention," Director of Press and Information at East and North Delhi Municipal Corporation Yogendra Singh Mann said.

Municipal Corporation has also highlighted that some residential buildings were being used for commercial purpose which are again mostly found in unauthorised areas and weaken the structure of the building.

Teams of municipal corporation have also identified dangerous building and have issues notices to owners to evacuate but in most of the cases such building are let-out by the owner at a cheaper rate.